Expanding boundaries of shopping, leisure as China embraces experiential retail

Beyond heritage-themed teahouses, established shopping complexes are reinventing themselves to match evolving consumer expectations.

At The Ring shopping mall in Chongqing, visitors can stroll through an indoor tropical rainforest dotted with plants, waterfalls and streams while shopping and dining.

"It is a fresh experience to enjoy the scenery and go shopping in the same place," said Liu Yaoze, a tourist from Central China's Henan province, who was visiting with his girlfriend.

From repurposed historic buildings and cultural venues to immersive commercial complexes, innovative consumption scenarios are expanding the boundaries of shopping and leisure in China, which are also boosted by optimized policies.

In July, China released a special plan under the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) framework to expand consumption, calling for developing novel consumption scenarios and encouraging commercial areas to adopt more immersive, interactive designs in a bid to generate lasting economic growth.

China's total retail sales of goods and services, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, rose 2.6 percent year-on-year in the first seven months, official data showed.

Services retail sales increased 5 percent in the January-July period, while goods retail sales climbed 1.1 percent.

With further measures to expand and upgrade goods consumption, the country expects to better tap the potential of its vast market, bringing total retail sales of consumer goods to around 60 trillion yuan ($8.94 trillion) by 2030, according to officials with the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission.

XINHUA